The earned seat
4.8
(6 ratings)
4 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Discover what it takes to thrive in a leaner, faster, and more strategic market by positioning yourself as a "non-design" design leader.
The earned seat
4.8
(6 ratings)
4 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Discover what it takes to thrive in a leaner, faster, and more strategic market by positioning yourself as a "non-design" design leader.
Course overview
Don't let your seat at the table get pulled out from under you!
The transformation of the tech market is forcing an evolution of design leadership.
A "non-design" design leadership practice will accelerate your effectiveness. In this course, you'll address problems and opportunities that transcend design alone—learning how to position yourself as an executive, set goals and priorities, get alignment, and execute—all through a customized design practice.
You're a great fit for this course if...
01
You find the shift to executive leadership more challenging than you expected, and the right kind of support is hard to find.
02
You've had rapid career growth, and encounter situations as a leader that you've never experienced before.
03
You're ready to take the next step in your leadership journey, and you might not even know what that is!
What you’ll get out of this course...
An understanding of non-design leadership.
By pulling from shared practices, you'll learn how to practically integrate design leadership with other disciplines.
An developed opinion on when design adds value—and when it doesn't.
You'll be challenged with your assumptions on how design should work. In doing so, you'll be able to adeptly solve problems and make decisions rapidly.
A customized plan for your role and priorities.
You'll develop a personal strategy for your unique situation, customizing how you approach your teams, priorities, communication, and project execution.
A refined practice of critical thinking and solution development.
By the act of working through practical applications in this course, you'll be able to better diagnose new problems and customize solutions as scenarios arise.
The earned seat
Meet your instructor
Jasmine Christensen
Jasmine is a seasoned executive with experience at Intercom, Dropbox, Udacity, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Facebook.
Jasmine has spent the past ten years building, managing, and leading large design organizations.
Before being an executive leader, she worked as a product designer and has spent time as a design instructor at the Academy of Art San Francisco.
Course syllabus
01
Week 1 | Defining your first team
In the first class, you'll be taking steps to determine who's on your "first" team. You'll devise tactics to decide on roles & responsibilities and plan collaboration and communication—all through a non-design lens.
02
Week 2 | Determining your priorities
After defining your team, you'll practice defining your priorities based on how they support your first team. You'll learn how to set goals and track progress on your priorities.
03
Week 3 | Connecting your design team
After determining your priorities, you'll craft strategies to communicate your role & priorities to your design team. You'll explore how to integrate them, and how to initiate and execute strategic vision work.
04
Week 4 | Managing & refining your positioning
In the final class, we'll discuss managing through instability and change, how to measure and track your impact, and how to refine the practices you're newly incorporating.
Course schedule
~4 hours per week
Tuesdays
1:00pm - 2:30pm EST
The live class will be 90 minutes per week and will include presented content, discussion, and workshops.
Weekly projects
~2 hours per week
You can expect to spend 1-2 hours outside of class expanding and personalizing solutions to the topics at hand.
Learning is better with cohorts
Active hands-on learning
This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects
Interactive and project-based
You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams
Learn with a cohort of peers
Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you